[Sensory-motor polyneuropathy associated with lung tuberculosis: presentation of two new cases]

The association of active tuberculosis with changes in the peripheral nervous system is not well defined, although it is included amongst the neuro-muscular disorders of the peripheral nerve diseases due to infective agents. We describe the case of two patients with sensory-motor polyneuropathy and coexistant active pulmonary tuberculosis which was untreated prior to diagnosis of the peripheral nervous system disorder. In both cases the condition was sub-acute and did not improve until treatment was begun. Anti-tuberculosis treatment was followed by marked improvement of both the pulmonary tuberculosis and of the polyneuropathy. The close chronological relationship of both clinical pictures with the therapeutic response supports the hypothesis of the pathogenesis of the peripheral nervous system disorder being mediated by an anomolous immune response, initiated by the infection with Koch's bacillus.